Xiaomi Unveils Mi 5s & Mi 5s Plus SD821-Powered Flagships

The Xiaomi Mi 5 is a high-end smartphone this company had introduced back in February. This smartphone is a direct successor to the Xiaomi Mi 4 which was introduced way back in 2014. The Xiaomi Mi 5 is fueled by the Snapdragon 820, made out of either metal and glass or metal and ceramic, depending on which variant you opt to purchase. The phone also packs in 3GB / 4GB of RAM, and has tons of other things going for it. Well, the company has decided that its time to refresh their high-end smartphone offering, the Xiaomi Mi 5s has been surfacing for weeks at this point, and the company has just introduced this smartphone during their press event in China, read on.

First and foremost, it is worth mentioning that the company had introduced two Xiaomi Mi 5s units, the Xiaomi Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus. These two handsets are actually not only different in terms of the design, but there are some additional differences here as well, the ‘Plus’ variant comes with two camera sensors on the back, unlike the regular model. In any case, let’s see what these two smartphones have to offer, shall we. The Xiaomi Mi 5s resembles the Xiaomi Mi 5, but it’s not made out of metal and glass, this handset sports an all-metal build. These two devices are quite a bit different in terms of features and specifications as well. The Xiaomi Mi 5s comes with the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner which is placed below the phone’s display, while the Mi 5 shipped with the regular fingerprint scanner which was built into its home button. This smartphone sports a 5.15-inch fullHD (1920 x 1080) display, which seems identical to the Mi 5's panel, but Xiaomi has further improved this display. The Xiaomi Mi 5s packs in 3GB / 4GB of RAM and 64GB / 128GB of internal storage (UFS 2.0), while it is fueled by the Snapdragon 821 64-bit quad-core SoC and the Adreno 530 GPU. This handset sports a 12-megapixel snapper on its back, we’re looking at Sony’s IMX378 sensor here, just in case you were wondering. As far as selfies go, you do get a 4-megapixel snapper here. The Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus, on the other hand, sports a 5.7-inch 1080p (1920 x 1080) display, along with 4GB / 6GB of RAM and 64GB / 128GB of internal storage. This handset is fueled by the Snapdragon 821 64-bit quad-core processor as well, and the Adreno 530 is here for graphics processing. This is an all-metal device as well, and it features two cameras on the back, two 13-megapixel snappers. The device comes with a rear-facing fingerprint scanner, and features three capacitive buttons below the display. Android 6.0 Marshmallow comes pre-installed on both of these phones, and the company's MIUI 8 OS is placed on top of Google's OS.

The Xiaomi Mi 5s comes in Dark Gray, Silver, Gold and Pink Gold color variants. The phone’s starting price is 1,999 Yuan ($300) for the 3GB RAM variant, as recent rumors have pointed out, which is quite affordable considering this handset’s internals. The 4GB RAM model of the Xiaomi Mi 5s will set you back 2,299 Yuan ($345) if you live in China. The Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus, on the other hand, comes in Pink, Gold and Silver color variants. The 4GB RAM model of this phablet costs 2,299 Yuan ($345), while the 6GB RAM variant comes in at 2,599 Yuan ($390). You’ll be able to register for the first flash sale on September 29th if you live in China, on Xiaomi’s official website, as well as Jingdong Mall (JD.com).

Kristijan has been writing for Android Headlines since 2014 and is an editor for the site. He has worked as a writer for several outlets before joining Android Headlines, and has a background in writing about Android and technology in general. He is a smartphone enthusiast that specializes in Android applications, and that platform in general. Contact him at Kristijan. [email protected]